This is where I think out loud about Life, the Universe and Everything. I consider life an adventure and this is part of mine whether I'm ranting on politics or taking you on a ramble through Kay's World.

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Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Redux

I seem to have put myself under fire here on the DADT issue so I think I had best clarify my position. Anyone who knows me well knows that I could care less whether anyone is gay or not. I judge people by how they treat me not by their creed, color or orientation. I have a lot of gay friends in a city where being openly gay isn't accepted well and I have been criticized for that, too. One of my friends is a minister who performed gay weddings and was thrown out of his church when he 'came out' in his fifties -- so much for Christian tolerance.

I would like nothing better than for gays to serve openly in our military if they wish. However, we, as a society, have obviously not evolved sufficiently to accept that as witness the popularity of the Fox News talking heads and Sarah Palin's blatherings.

That said, I support DADT because it is beats the hell out of the alternative. I believe that gays can and should serve in our military if they so desire.

I believe a time will come when it is possible for openess but I don't see it happening at this point in time. I am old enough and jaded enough to settle for what is practical when the ideal isn't available.

13 comments:

it works for you, you mean. ask the g&l soldiers & sailors how well it's worked for them. many of them are scared to death in an organization where trust is a key value. we go from light to light....when we know something is wrong after years of not knowing it, we need to fix OUR PART of it. that's true just about everywhere we look these days. like, we now know it's NOT OK to drive a car that gets 6 mpg. or even 16 or 26. time to fix our part in that. it's not the gummint's responsibility to face OUR contributions to today's problems.

don't be discouraged. if nobody much agrees with us, that shouldn't stop us from saying what we think. BLOG ON!!! how else will we ever work together if we don't know what other folks think??

I understand your position but don’t agree that saying nothing to keep the status quo and avoid problems is the solution. With this in mind, then in the 60s you would have been against equality for blacks? The country was not ready then and really is still not ready but the situation has improved a lot, much more so than if the Equal Right amendment had not been passed. I think that if legislation is not passed because of people like Palin, then that means that she won. I think that this country must get over their fixation about gays. In Europe we have mayors who are gays (Paris, Hamburg, Berlin) foreign ministers, etc. How can this country keep saying that all people are free when it is not true? If the gays had the same freedom as everyone else, then it would not be a big deal and people would not keep talking about it. But I am afraid that it will take a long time for everyone to be free here. At least repealing DADT would be a step toward a freer future for all US citizens.

Kay, I'm sorry but I didn't read your post thoroughly. I thought you said you were FOR repealing DADT. I had to re-read your post and I have to rescind my approval. I am opposed to DADT and think we have evolved enough that we should no longer need to discriminate. Too many qualified service men and women have been kicked out of the service when they were willing to put their lives on the line for us. The Israeli's and other services have no problem with letting gays serve and I think we can be as tolerant as they are.

It is interesting that people who agree on the underlying principles can still disagree about the implementation of policies to reach the same goal. I guess that disagreement is healthy, and respectful, intelligent debate is the heart of a democracy. We will have to agree to disagree on this one, because I support the repeal. DADT ends up with soldiers being subjected to threats of disclosure of their homosexuality. I think it would be more dangerous than being able to openly live their lives. Now, I admit that I've not served in the military, and am thankful of that.

The comment there about how we can all agree on a direction but not how to get there was a good one. Anybody who knows Kay knows she's not a prejudiced person at all but simply looking at this for what will work right now in a difficult time in our country. We might disagree on how we get there, but I think we all want the same thing.

This is one of these issues that I find difficulty getting emotionally involved in. To me I find it incredible in the 21st century that people are still embroiled about gay people in our culture!! Why is this still an issue at all, in this day and age?

As a former officer in the Marine Corps (Hoorah!), I support gays in the military because they have always been there as all officers and noncoms know. They serve as faithfully and selflessly as any other soldier or sailor and yes, they deserve better.

Because of this experience I understand and share your concerns, Kay, as do many others in the military.

I am concerned for you, however. I know well that you are not a bigot and are a staunch defender of the Constitution. Some comments here are definitely out of line and paint you in a bad light including racism which is downright wicked. I'm just wondering how many of them spit on me and my men when I was serving my country in VietNam. I know who and what you are and they are wrong. As you said, all one has to do is pick up a newspaper and our immaturity as a nation glares with the stupidity of the Teabaggers and that horrible woman.

I don't want to see you give up your blog -- you are a wonderful, caring, funny lady -- and I enjoy reading it. However, I do want you to be happy so I hope you just take a break. I'll be calling to nag you about it soon.